American Small Business Travelers Alliance recently conducted an online survey of both members and non-members regarding travel booking methods.

Following are the survey results:

1. Small Businesses prefer the following booking methods:

    a. Airline Website
    64%
    b. Online Travel Sites
    21%

2. Small Businesses' most used booking methods:

    a. Airline Website
    60%
    b. Online Travel Sites
    23%

3. 73% of Small Businesses use airline websites to research travel services.

4. 74% of Small Businesses prefer Southwest Airlines’ approach of primarily offering their flights on their website.

5. 78% of Small Businesses would like to see more airlines follow Southwest Airlines' example and invest more in their own websites.

6. Female Small Business Travelers believe Southwest Airlines and American Airlines websites do the best job of catering to women travelers.

7. Small Businesses selected the following factors as their primary reason for airline preference:

    a. Flight Schedule
    35%
    b. Competitive Fares
    35%

8. Small Businesses’ factors in booking method preference:

    a. Access to lowest fares
    44%
    b. Convenience
    30%

9. Alternatives chosen by Small Businesses if their chosen online travel site no longer offered the lowest fares from their preferred airline:

    a. Change to a booking method that offers lower fares from preferred airline
    47%
    b. Add an additional method to book flights that offers lower fares from preferred airline
    26%
    c. Book flights through preferred airlines’ website
    16%

10. Alternatives chosen by Small Businesses if their chosen booking method no longer offered any fares from their preferred airline:

    a. Change to a booking method that offers lower fares from preferred airline
    45%
    b. Book flights through preferred airlines’ website
    21%
    c. Add an additional method to book flights that offers lower fares from preferred airline
    20%

11. Choices made by Small Businesses if a different booking method with similar qualities to their preferred booking method were able to offer discounted and/or free optional services:

    a. Change to a booking method that offers discounted fares and/or free optional services from preferred airline
    56%
    b. Add an additional booking method that does offer lower fares and/or free optional services from primary airline
    30%